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CONWAY TWP. (WWJ) - Investigators started digging in Livingston County Friday morning, in hopes of eventually solving one of Michigan’s longest-running cold cases.

WWJ’s Mike Campbell reports the FBI, state and local police are in Conway Township, along with experts from Michigan State University, to ensure that the sifting operation on the site goes as planed.

Around 8:30 a.m. an excavator began digging along a tree-lined driveway at 7792 Sober Road. Just after 9 a.m., a medical examiner’s vehicle arrived along with other Crime Scene Investigators.

The site was identified last week by cadaver dogs, trained to react only to human remains.

Paige Renkoski

The 30-year-old Okemos woman was driving home from Detroit Metropolitan Airport when she disappeared in May 1990. Renkoski’s running car was found along the side of I-96 near Fowlerville with her purse and shoes still inside. Police have ruled the case a homicide even though her body hasn’t been found.

Investigators were led to the private property after reviewing a 1999 case file, which included a letter and a hand drawn map indicating Renkoski’s remains were buried there. The area had previously been searched with ground-penetrating radar, but never with cadaver dogs.